If you’re a science geek, or just love new experiences, then a visit to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, might be on your “to-do” list for your next European vacation.
In this handy guide we’re going to explain how to plan your visit, how to get to CERN and the best way to explore the venue.
A little bit about the Large Hadron Collider & CERN
The name CERN is derived from the acronym for the French “Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire”, or European Council for Nuclear Research. Founded in 1954, the CERN laboratory sits above the French/Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe’s first joint ventures.
There’s a great two minute YouTube video from the Science Channel that gives you a quick overview of CERN.
Founded in 1954, the CERN laboratory sits astride the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe’s first joint ventures and now has 22 member states including Australia, Korea and Vietnam.
At CERN engineers and physicists are exploring the fundamental structure of the universe. They’re using the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter – the fundamental particles that make up our universe and you and me and all of us. In the Large Hadron Collider, the particles are made to collide together at close to the speed of light. This process gives physicists clues about how the particles interact, and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature.
The instruments used at CERN are purpose-built particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before the beams are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.
The main particle accelerator itself is deep underground, with a circumference of 27km (16.7 miles). And did you know that CERN is home to half of the world’s particle physicists?
Where is it located?
CERN is located just near Geneva Airport. It’s about a 20 minute tram ride from the center of Geneva. More on the location below!
Booking your CERN visit
CERN is not your usual tourist attraction. You can’t just show up on the day for a tour. You need to book in advance on the CERN website. Here’s what to do:
- Tours in English take place Mondays to Saturday at 11am and 1pm. The tour lasts two hours.
- Each tour has a maximum of 12 people.
- 15 days in advance at 8:30am CET (11:30pm Pacific Time), the CERN website opens up six spaces for a tour. For example, if you wanted to visit on 15 January, then on 1 January the website will have six spaces available for that tour.
- 3 days in advance again at 8:30am CET (11:30pm Pacific Time), the CERN website releases the remaining six spaces.
- All tour spaces are on a first come first served basis. Tours are very popular and will fill quickly, particularly in summer time. Currently there are three times more requests for tours as there are spaces, and spaces can fill within seconds of being released on the CERN website. So you may want to set a reminder on your phone to log onto the CERN website at the appropriate time to book your tour.
- The tour itself is free.
How to get to CERN
If you’re travelling from Geneva, skip ahead to the next paragraph. We travelled from Zurich, which required a round trip train from Zurich to Geneva. You will soon find out that everything is expensive in Zurich, including train travel. A return train trip from Zurich to Geneva will cost 52CHF (that’s $52USD). You can buy your ticket from the Swiss Rail website (scroll to the very bottom of the website and select the small “en” letters next to the clock in the bottom left, to change the website language to English). We purchased a Saver Day Pass which effectively allowed unlimited travel (although we only did the round trip from Zurich to Geneva). The trip itself is 2.5 hours each way and takes you through some very pretty countryside. The train departs from central Zurich train station, and arrives also at the central Geneva-Cornavin train station.
It’s very easy to reach CERN from Geneva. Head to the Geneva-Cornavin main train station in Geneva, and take tram number 18 to “CERN” (which is the final stop between CERN Globe and Reception). You’ll need to purchase a “Tout Genève” ticket from the ticket vending machine (the cost is 3 Swiss Francs which is about $3USD) and you can pay with cash or a credit card. But also remember that most Geneva hotels provide free public transport passes so don’t forget to ask for yours if you’re staying in a Geneva hotel.
Make sure to arrive at least 10 minutes before the start of your tour.
It’s easy to check transport directions and the arrival and departure times for the tram by looking on Google Maps which provides detailed public transport information and route planning for Geneva. You’ll need data on your cell phone to use Google Maps, so you might want to pick up a Europe Prepaid SIM Card here in the USA before you head on your vacation.
Details about the tour
If you’re a science geek, or just love exploring new locations, you’ll totally geek out on this tour. Each tour is conducted by an employee of CERN, such as a physicist, so they are a wealth of knowledge and will happily answer any questions you may have.
First, when you get off the tram, you’ll want to head across the road to your left to the brick main building, where you check-in and get your visitor pass.
Also inside this building is the gift shop where you can buy souvenirs of your visit to CERN.
Second, during the two hour tour, you’ll be walking quite a lot, maybe about 1-2 miles in total, so make sure to wear comfortable shoes. There are some short staircases.
Third, you can take photos of anything, anywhere! In fact, our tour guide actively encouraged everyone to take as many photographs as they want!
The tour starts with a short 10 minute video presentation about the history of CERN and its current work. It’s really informative and the guide will answer any questions you may have at the end of the video. After the video, the tour starts. You’ll get to learn about how the Large Hadron Collider was built, how they inject particles into the collider tunnel, and how the data is analysed.
This is a photo of a section of the tubing used deep underground to accelerate particles at near to the speed of light.
Next up you’ll walk across to the massive engineering building where you’ll see the room where scientists sit and analyse the results of the hundreds of particle collisions taking place deep underground.
After a tour of this building, you’ll get to see the original CERN particle accelerator — the beginning of the current exploration into the start of our universe.
We highly recommend this tour for anyone who is curious about the world in which we live. It was extremely informative and thought provoking, and represents an amazing global collaboration of scientists across the world working together.
And while you’re here, go visit France — it’s just a few yards away!
CERN is located literally on the French/Swiss border. In fact it’s so close that if you walk just a few hundred yards up the road, you’ll cross over into France! There’s nothing really there, but it’s a pretty cool photo opportunity for Facebook or Instagram.
Here’s the border crossing into France:
Here’s some French street signs:
And here we are heading back into Switzerland at the Swiss border crossing:
There were no guards or officials at the border crossing when we visited, but you should still carry your passport in case you need to show it when crossing over or coming back.
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